Review of Warrior King

Introduction

For fans of East Asian cinema, `Warrior King` is better known by its native Thai title of `Tom-Yum-Goong`. But it`s also known as `The Protector`, or Quentin Tarentino presents `The Protector` in one of those utterly pointless celebrity endorsements in the US. It`s even gone by the moniker `Honour of the Dragon` in several European countries. It certainly begs the question as to why distributors feel the need to change the title for different territories. In this case, Is it because Tom-Yum-Goong is the name of a spicy Thai dish, and the great Western public may think that they`re paying to see a film about Asian soup? Doubtful. Unless you count bead-wearing studenty back packer types, most Westerners wouldn`t know a steaming bowl of Tom-Yum-Goong from a steaming pile of Tom Cruise scientology-waffle.

Despite having a UK distribution title that puts in a mind a woefully bad kung-fu flick from the much derided Soulblade label, `Tom-Yum-Goong` is actually Prachya Pinkaew`s follow up to `Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior`, the breakthrough feature for "one man special effect" Tony Jaa. Despite looking like a mild-mannered young man, Jaa proved with `Ong-Bak` that he`d as easily break your neck as he would flash a smile, positioning himself as the rightful heir to the world-wide martial arts phenomenon throne which has seated luminaries Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li.

`Tom-Yum-Goong` is the tale of Kham, who along with his father, rears elephants in the hope that some day one will be chosen to join the King of Thailand`s war caravan of the great creatures. But when the day arrives when they may get their chance to honour the King, their white elephant and its calf are stolen and illegally smuggled to Australia at the behest of an organised-crime syndicate. Kham is forced to journey down under, and in his quest to retrieve his elephants, he finds aid in the form of an Australia-based Thai police officer and a Thai sex slave, as well all manner of opposition to test out his finely-honed Muay Thai skills.

This two-disc DVD edition is out now, courtesy of Contender Entertainment`s Premier Asia label.

Video

An anamorphic presentation in 1.85:1, `Tom-Yum-Goong` features some great cinematography which effortlessly captures the sumptuous vistas and colourful culture of Thailand during the opening. As the film moves onto the busy metropolis of Sydney, the flashy fisticuffs kick in, and are captured well by some intense and impressive camera work.

For the most part, the DVD transfer is fine - vibrant, sharp with good colours. However, there is some noise/grain affecting block colours during certain scenes, and director Pinkaew`s appetite for using a blurring frame effect to distinctly separate character close-ups from the backgrounds is overworked.

Audio

A choice between Thai Dolby Digital 5.1 and Thai DTS 5.1, with both tracks showing a mastery of the surrounds by not overburdening the rears and implementing good localisation of the front soundstage. There`s really not much in the way of complaints that can be levelled at them, and if anything, the difference between the DD and DTS is more negligible than usual, with little more than a slight extra kick to the sound effects on the part of the DTS track.

The film flips between Thai language with English subtitles and spoken English throughout, and while the use of music and scoring is hardly worth mentioning, `Tom-Yum-Goong` features some tight sound editing.

Features

Disc one features trailers and information on `Ong-Bak`, `Bichunmoo: Warrior of Virtue`, `The Warrior`, `Once Upon a Time in High School`, `Initial D: Drift Racer`, `The Grudge 2` and Momentum Pictures` free running action-fest `District 13`.

Disc two is split into three segments:

Promotional Gallery: Featuring five trailers and teasers for the feature, and `On The Press Trail`, a short montage of interesting stunts and performances by Tony Jaa on a round-the-world publicity tour.

Interview Gallery: This section has interviews with Tony Jaa (30 mins), Petchtai Wongkamlao (15 mins), Bongkoj Khongmalai (5 mins), director Prachya Pinkaew (15 mins) and stunt co-ordinator Panna Rittikrai (10 mins)

A Warrior`s Journey: The third section of the disc features `Revolution Uprising: Pre-Production Action`, a selection of rehearsal action sequences captured on digital video, `A Different Line: Multi Angle Sequence`, which runs one of the film`s big fight scenes side-by-side with an alternate angle comparison, and `Making the Warrior: Cast and Crew Interviews`, featuring some of the minor cast reflecting on their roles (10 mins)

Conclusion

While it might be ripe for a trite cliche alert, the phrase, "If you enjoyed `Ong-Bak` then you`ll enjoy this" springs instantly to mind. Not unexpected, as it`s simply more of the same, but a little different. `Ong-Bak` received notable praise for using a back-to-basics approach to fight choreography, and not relying on stunt assistance. For `Tom-Yum-Goong`, Pinkaew and Jaa have raised the bar by maintaining the no wires, no doubles approach to the martial arts, but introducing elements of blue screen for impossible stunts -and while there is use of CGI, it`s contained to a dream sequence, thus retaining the aura of originality with the no-frills approach where it can. A confident sophomore effort from the director/star pairing, `Tom-Yum-Goong` rides a high crest on the new wave of martial arts flicks coming out of East Asia, and is a definite recommendation for fight junkies.

Naturally, high-energy action is the name of the game, and `Tom-Yum-Goong` has it in spades. The set-pieces are exciting in a film determined never to settle for anything less than slick; there`s an exhilarating boat chase, Kham laying down a beating on a bunch of emo-rocker types in a tram warehouse, a thrilling battle of Muay Thai vs Capoeira skills in a burning temple, and the highlight, a brawl in a several storey crime den as Kham bops his way up several floors in one long, continuous take. There`s also a very real, visceral feel to the bone-crunching hand-to-hand fighting. A mixture of clever choreography, ear-shattering sound effects and Jaa`s highly impressive Muay Thai skills, which if you didn`t know any better, you`d swear involves him never pulling a punch, ensure again his name is worthy of the same breath as other kung-fu cinema greats.

Unsurprisingly, `Tom-Yum-Goong` is a bit thin on the ground plot-wise with gaping chasms in the narrative, but there are times when it wanders into remarkably wobbly territory. Kham has a habit of popping up in just the right place without much of an explanation as to how he got there, characters have a habit of simply disappearing just when there`s a reason for them to stick around, and the roles of the supporting cast feel terribly under-developed, particularly Kham`s allies and their accompanying peripheral arcs, who suffer from little raison d`être other than to use up Tony Jaa`s precious screen time - and time spent away from Tony Jaa is time wasted. `Tom-Yum-Goong` sure isn`t going to be winning any awards for a coherent script and crisp dialogue, but it cracks on at a fair pace while the script serves its purpose of throwing up new reasons and ways, no matter how illogical, for Tony Jaa to unleash his patented flying knees. For some people at least, that makes it a winner.